Eredivisie Round 13 Results: PSV stay top and Ajax beat VVV

By Peter McVitie

All but one of the top five teams picked up victories this week, with Twente losing ground on the leaders,as Heracles destroyed Roda and Zwolle picked up a vital three points

ADO

1

6

PSV

PSV kept their place at the top of the Eredivisie for the second successive week after they thrashed ADO 6-1 in The Hague.

Luciano Narsingh gave the visitors the lead inside the first 15 minutes, receiving the ball from Atiba Hutchinson on the right side of the box, before cutting in and tapping it across the goalkeeper and into the net.

The Eindhoven side’s lead was doubled nine minutes later as Kevin Strootman combined with Georginio Wijnaldum inside the area before lifting it over Gino Coutinho.

Dries Mertens made it 3-0 to Dick Advocaat’s side after receiving a pass from Jeremain Lens on the edge of the box and slotting into the bottom corner. The Belgian was involved again for the fouth, driving towards goal before finding Wijnaldum with a through-ball, and the midfielder extended his side’s advantage.

The deficit was temporarily reduced in superb style when Boy Waterman’s punch was brought down outside the box by Charlton Vicento who chipped it in off the bar.

Ten minutes later, Timothy Derijck restored his side's four-goal advantage by pouncing on the rebound of Mark van Bommel’s saved shot and knocking it into the net before Orlando Engelaar rounded off the scoring with a delightful piece of skill before firing home from the edge of the area.

ZWOLLE

2

0

NAC

Zwolle recovered from last week’s defeat to Ajax to beat NAC 2-0 at home on Saturday night.

The north-eastern club were dominant throughout the 90 minutes and deservedly left with all three points.

Denni Avdic should have given the hosts the lead with a header from a Youness Mokhtar cross but it was saved on the line by Jelle ten Rouwelaar. The 21-year-old then came close himself with a free-kick, but his shot went wide.

Zwolle’s next opportunity fell to Ronnie Reniers but the forward’s effort was straight at Ten Rouwelaar.

The home side’s persistence paid off, however. Kenny van der Weg failed to clear a Mokhtar cross and Reniers took advantage and knocked it into the net.

Ten minutes later, Denni Avdic made it 2-0 to Art Langeler’s side as he fired home after Mustafa Saymak had teed it up for him.

AJAX

2

0

VVV

Ajax secured a second consecutive league win by beating VVV 2-0, leaving the Venlo club second bottom in the table.

The hosts dominated possession from the off, but had great difficulty getting in behind the strong VVV defence. A lack of width meant the home side resorted to quick bursts from Christian Eriksen and intricate passes through the middle, which the visitors’ defence found relatively easy to deal with.

Frank de Boer’s side eventually did take the lead, though, as Derk Boerrigter curled a free kick into the top corner just two minutes after the restart.

The reigning champions sealed the win late on when Danny Hoesen latched onto a Siem de Jong through ball and slid it into the net with ease to score on his Eredivisie debut.

HEERENVEEN

0

2

RKC

A Florian Jozefzoon doubled helped RKC to a 2-0 win over Heerenveen.

The visitors went ahead after just seven minutes. Robert Braber whipped a cross into the box for Jozefzoon to diverted into the net.

Marco van Basten’s men almost equalised immediately afterwards as Alfred Finnbogason charged towards goal and played a one-two with Lukas Marecek, but his shot was saved by Jeroen Zoet.

Finnbogason had another opportunity to pull his side level when he met Pele van Anholt’s cross at the far post, but his header flew over the bar.

Jozefzoon almost made it 2-0 five minutes into the second half when he took a perfect through ball in his stride and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper but his effort went just wide, but he wasn't to be denied the next time though as he brought down Teddy Chevalier’s cross and buried it comfortably, clinching the win for RKC.

GRONINGEN

1

1

AZ

Groningen and AZ remain within a point of each other in the bottom half of the table after sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw this weekend.

The Alkmaar side were the better team throughout the match, but could not convert their dominance into goals, with Adam Maher and Roy Beerens left frustrated in front of goal having missed decent opportunities to put their team ahead.

Groningen’s first opportunity fell to Andraz Kirm on the counterattack, but the 28-year-old was denied by Esteban Alvarado.

Gertjan Verbeek’s side were made to pay for their wasted opportunities when Tim Sparv put the hosts ahead when Genero Zeefuik headed down a free kick for the midfielder to finish from close range.

Adam Maher equalised with 19 minutes remaining, picking up a Jozy Altidore pass and slamming it into the net past Luciano Da Silva, earning a point for his side.

VITESSE

4

1

NEC

Vitesse collected all three points this weekend with a 4-1 victory over eight-man NEC.

The hosts were gifted a goal after just three minutes courtesy of a Piet Velthuizen howler. The goalkeeper received a pass in his own box and was caught in possession by Melvin Platje and the forward tapped it in.

Vitesse compensated for the goalkeeper’s error eight minutes later, though. Renato Ibarra sent a diagonal cross into the box, finding Wilfried Bony, and the Ivorian rose unchallenged to head in the equaliser.

The Nijmegen side found themselves a man down late in the first period when Victor Palsson was shown a second yellow card.

From then on Vitesse dominated the game, taking the lead with an early second half goal from Guram Kashia with the assistance of Jonathan Reis.

NEC fought hard, despite the numerical disadvantage, but were dealt the crushing blow after 80 minutes when Bony made it 3-1. Things then got worse for the visitors when they had another two players, Remy Amieux and Ryan Koolwijk, sent off in the space of two minutes.

Mike Havenaar inflicted further pain on NEC when he deflected Gael Kakuta’s cross past goalkeeper Gabor Babos to make it 4-1.

UTRECHT

1

1

TWENTE

Twente lost ground on league leaders PSV after being held to a 1-1 draw by Utrecht on Sunday.

It took just two minutes for the Enschede side to go a goal up when Dusan Tadic floated a perfectly weighted free kick cross into the box. The delivery went straight to the back post, finding Willem Janssen, who headed past Robbin Ruiter.

Utrecht pulled level 15 minutes later through Jacob Mulenga, who was first in line to meet Tommy Oar's superbly struck set piece and flashed it in at the near post.

Both sides created chances as the game went on. Mulenga had one shot saved by 42-year-old goalkeeper Sander Boschker, and at the other end, Luc Castaignos saw a shot go over the bar as the game ended all square.

The result leaves Twente three points behind PSV, while Utrecht remain in sixth.

FEYENOORD

3

0

WILLEM II

Willem II are still bottom of the Eredivisie after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Feyenoord at De Kuip.

The hosts enjoyed the majority of possession from the opening stages, but struggled to make it count as they were kept at bay by the Willem II defence, leaving Graziano Pelle frustrated up front.

Ronald Koeman’s men eventually found a way through. Ruben Schaken couldn't flick the ball over Hans Mulder, whose poor clearance fell to the Lex Immers who tapped it towards goal and was fortunate to see the scuffed shot tumble past David Meul.

Pelle grabbed his side’s second of the game by diverting Joris Mathijsen’s shot into an open goal, with Meul caught out from a corner.

The game was killed off on the hour mark by Pelle, who scored his eighth league goal of the season. Jordy Clasie charged forward, beating two opponents before passing to the striker who blasted it in.

HERACLES

5

1

RODA

Heracles moved up to eigth place after 13 matches by hammering Roda 5-1.

Lerin Duarte curled in a 15th-minute opener from the edge of the box after breaking free from a group of four Roda defenders surrounding him.

Sanharib Malki equalised for Roda after 33 minutes when Amin Affane intercepted a poor pass and gave it to the Kerkrade side’s talisman to put away.

Just four minutes later, however, Heracles’ advantage was restored with Duarte beating Filip Kurto once more.

The gap was widened and Heracles were given an even bigger advantage when Roda goalkeeper Kurto brought down Geoffrey Castillion inside the box and was shown a straight red card. Willie Overtoom stepped up to calmly convert the resulting penalty to make it 3-1 to his side.

Castillion then put his side further ahead with 20 minutes remaining and Samuel Armenteros rounded things off with his side’s fifth against a deflated Roda, who had no fight left in them and remain in the bottom three.